France captain Charles Ollivon: ‘We’ve six days left together and a trophy to collect’

France's Swan Rebbadj (left) and Charles Ollivon celebrate at Stade de France. Picture: David Niviere/PA

How France saved their Six Nations hopes and denied Wales a Grand Slam will have great rugby thinkers poring over their videos for days and weeks to come - but the myth that red cards ruin games is officially busted.

Analysis pieces will study Paul Willemse’s 67th-minute sending off; the two subsequent Wales yellows that made it 14v13; the penalty try not given; the Welsh score that may have been held up; the three times France got over the tryline but were told ball did not touch turf.

The list of important small moments is almost as long as the match itself - the last five minutes alone a lifetime of postgraduate rugby analysis study.

For Gael Fickou the catalyst was Willemse’s card, denying France what looked at the time like a crucial score when they were 10 points down. “The red card remobilised us”, he said. “We never let go, we are not cheats … Our state of mind was remarkable tonight. We gave ourselves the chance to go and get something next week [against Scotland].”

Captain Charles Ollivon, too, believes Les Bleus took something crucial from a moment when previous France sides would have fallen apart. “When we took that red card we had just scored, it was tough psychologically,” he said. “But as we had repeated in the locker room, we should not overplay. We stayed cool. We were heroic.”

Fabien Galthie, meanwhile, could not resist a post-match dig over the incident. “If you watch it there is clearly no contact, or if there is it’s very limited. If you really watch the reaction of the Welsh players. They specialise in making opponents get red cards.” It was an unworthy comment from a coach who had just had the nerves he habitually lives on shredded over 80 of the most intense international rugby minutes of his tenure.

Ignore the needless poke at the Welsh dragon. Fikou and Ollivon have a point. France - who today move back to third in World Rugby’s rankings - were second best until that moment, and Wales were easing away. After it, the visitors were fighting just to hang on as France snarled back.

France had been dangerous in attack - as they have been all tournament, but they lacked the defensive aggression we have got used to. It’s as if they decided to wind back the defence from Shaun Edwards-mandated 11 to have something left late in the game if they needed to do to Wales what England had done to them a week previously.

As gameplans go, if that’s what it is, it’s risky. And what Edwards may think of it is a mystery. Shrouded in his official France merch parka, he was almost catatonic in the stands - even when his colleagues were on their feet, raging against Ollivon’s late-game decision to reset another scrum as the seconds ticked down and an unlikely comeback looked increasingly impossible. But it worked. This time, anyway.

How L’Equipe reacted to France’s last-ditch victory.

Ollivon, it turned out, was right to reset one more time, despite his coaches’ opinions. He blitzed over from the scrum - and the 20-30 scoreboard flicked to 27-30 as Romain Ntamack, on as a replacement, added the conversion.

Wales still had their win, though. They kicked long and forced France to attack from deep - and when Uini Atonio knocked on, the Slam was theirs. But, in ensuring the ball for the glory kick to touch, Cory Hill was penalised for sealing off.

France had their chance. Last week, out of steam, their one last attack was beaten back by England. On Saturday, they had enough in the bank - with the clock in the red - to play 11 phases in one minute and 40 seconds to set up what, in print, reads like simplest of overlap endings, perfectly executed as first Fickou and then Arthur Vincent fixed their defenders to give player-of-the-match Brice Dulin a run-in.

But it worked because at that time, in that place, France had the cool heads Ollivon referenced. Fickou and Vincent and Dulin - and everyone who touched the ball in that 100-second block - were clear-minded enough to build a win.

All that remains in this Six Nations is the Covid-postponed match against Scotland, on Friday. Ollivon is not an arrogant captain, which makes his plainly spoken last words on the topic just a little menacing.

“We have six days left together and a trophy to collect. It’s important to savour this evening but the switch will be very simple.

“We are already thinking of Friday and everyone is already heading in the same direction.”